Nowadays we found in the market a diverse variety of articles made of plastic materials, among them we shall refer to those which esentially consist of a solid or rigid base or support covered by a plastic layer, a fabric layer or the like. Usually these articles are sold in the form of notebooks, photo albums, picture frames, etc.
Heretofore and since this kind of articles were firstly elaborated they have been changing in order to satisfy the needs of the consumers regarding aspect and utility. In the beginning these fancy articles were made of printed cardboard or cardboard covered or enveloped with printed paper; then the cardboard began to be covered with a fabric layer instead of paper and later a layer of plastic material was used so as to achieve more durability, for instance a printed plastic vinyl material. In the case of covering with fabric the texture of the obtained product was not so acceptable since the fabric upon bonding to the support by means of an adhesive acquires a hard texture. An alternative method for avoiding this hard texture was sewing the fabric about the base or support in order to not use adhesive; however this sewing operation makes difficult a commercial production.
Many combinations of materials have been created so as to achieve a better appearance and utility of the articles, however these combinations stay limited to their bonding process which has to be applicable under commercial volumes.
One of the combinations which up to date has been successful, mainly because of its smooth finishing texture, is the one which includes a foam material between the layers of the outer materials, whereby the obtained article is cushioned in either one or both sides.
These cushioned articles are manufactered by providing: a bottom layer of heat-sealable material, a base material which confers rigidity to the article, a foam material and an upper layer of heat-sealable material; this arrangement is thermetically sealed at the edges of the upper and bottom layers of heat-sealable material, thereby enveloping the rigid base and the foam material and providing an article with a smooth cushioned finishing.